Summer Begins

I knew last week would be busy.  It was the last five days of school with all the normal busy-ness of that time of year.  The added stress was that the classroom needed to be entirely packed by noon Friday ~ every book, file, activity, and piece of paper needed to be in a box, file cabinet, or crate because everything is being moved to a room-not-yet-determined.  Final count: 53 boxes, 7 file cabinets, 10 crates, and the assorted odd-shaped large items in trash bags and labeled.

So I did something smart ~ I took myself to the movies after school on Monday.  I saw I'll See You In My Dreams and have been thinking about the movie ever since.

Blythe Danner stars.  Blythe Danner is the embodiment of grace, poise, beauty, understated emotion, and she can sing.  The story is of a woman named Carol who has crafted a life.  She has friends who want her to move to their retirement village, but Carol likes living alone.  She has a routine and has tried to shield herself from further heartbreak. 

Then she has a conversation with the guy who cleans her pool, and her world expands a bit.  Their talks are about real life questions and willingness to keep trying.  Carol sings.  She meets a man.  She makes small changes.  Carol is my new role model.  Through the losses and the gains she keeps going.

I was crying within the first ten minutes.  Later I laughed out loud.  I sat entranced as Carol sang.  At one emotional point Carol tells her daughter that she still has two boxes in the guest room she should go through before she leaves,  and I was crying again.  That is how it really happens, this thing about life moving forward.  People leave.  Others are left behind.  We take a risk because we think we finally found the thing missing, and then it doesn't work out.  Relationships change, sometimes in ways over which we have no control.  Friends rally.  Maybe we take a trip....

I am traveling this week.  The timing is only because this was the biggest chunk of time we had this summer to take a road trip.  I am channeling Carol as life keeps happening in spite of my desire to push the pause button.   Maintaining a sense of calm is always a good choice.